Oracle Instant Client 12.2 now has SQL*Loader and Data Pump

This is a guest post by Jim Stenoish, Senior Director of Software Development, whose products include all tools used for the high speed movement, transformation, and loading of data and metadata for Oracle Database.

Oracle Instant Client 12.2 now includes SQL*Loader as well as the Data Pump command line utilities expdp and impdp, and the traditional Export/Import utilities exp and imp. Previously, these tools were only available with a 'full' client installation, or in a database installation. Being in Instant Client allows users to access these tools with a smaller footprint on disk and with a much quicker install than for a full client. The OTN license is also more convenient for many users.

Now these tools are part of Instant Client, it's easy to load data from a file on a system the doesn't already have Oracle software installed.

Installing the Tools

You can install the tools by unzipping the Oracle Instant Client 'Basic' (or 'Basic Light') package and the 'Tools' package to the same location. See the Instant Client home page for links to download for each platform.

Follow the platform-specific instructions given on the download page. For example, on Linux set LD_LIBRARY_PATH and PATH to the Instant Client directory. On Windows set PATH to the Instant Client directory and also install the Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Redistributable.

Using the Tools

SQL*Loader allows you to load data from files, such as comma-separated value files (CSV), into the tables.

The expdp and impdp utility allows you to move metadata and data between Oracle databases. The expdp utility unload metadata and data from the database into Data Pump files on the database server. The impdp utility recreates metadata defined in a Data Pump file and loads table data stored in the files on the database server. It also provides a way to extract metadata and data over a DB Link (no files involved) from one database to another database.

If you have questions about SQL*Loader or Data Pump you can ask them on OTN.

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Comments ( 6 )

Mike Tuesday, April 10, 2018

You should make the software backwards compatible or do the same with older clients too. This is just what I was looking for but is completely useless with my 12.1.0.2 databases since you haven't added expdp to the 12.1.0.2 instant client also

Christopher Jones Tuesday, April 10, 2018

If you check Support Note 207303.1, you can see that there is cross-version interoperability of Oracle client & database server versions.